The Simple Trick That'll Eliminate The Need To Flip Food In The Oven

When making french fries or other roasted vegetables in the oven, recipes often direct cooks to flip the food halfway through roasting, or sometimes a few times throughout the cooking duration. The reason is to ensure the vegetables are evenly cooked and browned.

"You don't want one side of your vegetables to be super dark, and the other sides to have no color," said chef and food writer Alison Roman (via Bon Appetit). Roman advises roasting veggies at a high temperature for 35 to 45 minutes, and giving them one or two stirs throughout the process.

It can be tricky to remember the flip, though, especially if you set your timer for the full time the food needs to cook — rather than the halfway point. Thankfully, if you preheat the baking sheet in the oven, you can avoid the halfway flip altogether, thus avoiding the unevenly cooked veggies through a convenient trick.

Stick your baking sheet in the oven while it is preheating. Once the oven is up to temperature, remove the baking sheet, add your vegetables and oil, and roast. Simple, right? The trick may even speed up cooking times since the food will start roasting as soon as it hits the baking sheet.

Preheating the baking sheet in the oven can prevent uneven cooking due to hot spots. "Every oven is different and has hot spots, which are areas that heat up faster than others," says food writer Valerie Li (via USA Today.) "To prevent the hot spots from unevenly cooking your food, you should always preheat the pan or baking sheet."

The trick may eliminate the need to flip your food. However, there are exceptions to every rule. Some recipes, like Tyler Florence's oven fries, specifically call for tossing food periodically to get an even crust on every bite — even on a preheated baking sheet.

When baking, you should not preheat the cookie sheet, since exact times and temperatures are crucial, and things like cookie dough could stick to hot sheets. You should also obey baking recipes when they direct you to rotate the pan or switch it between oven racks. These directions are often to make sure desserts bake evenly in the oven, without certain sections over-baking or drying out because of hot spots. 

In addition to preheating your baking sheet, there are a few other tricks you can try for perfectly roasted veggies. With some extra love and attention, that crispy on the outside, tender on the inside consistency can be easily achieved. To get there, try using a convection oven, chopping veggies evenly, and avoiding overcrowding the pan.

Convection ovens have built-in fans that circulate the air in the oven, eliminating those pesky hot spots and ensuring even cooking. Note that since convection ovens cook differently, you may need to make adjustments for time and temperature. 

Chopping vegetables into similarly-sized chunks will ensure they are finished cooking at the same time. As well, avoiding overcrowding by leaving space between vegetables allows for better air circulation as the food cooks. Plus, vegetables typically give off steam when they cook, so they can turn mushy if they are too close to one another.

Another tip is to roast at a high temperature, as anywhere between 400 and 450 degrees Fahrenheit will allow vegetables to brown nicely. Finally, try soaking your potatoes. When making fries or roasted potatoes, soaking the peeled, washed, and cut chunks in cold water gets rid of excess starch, ensuring the potatoes get nice and crispy.